We’ve all been there. Whether it’s a vending machine or a laundromat, how often have you wanted to use a coin-operated device only to find out that you are just slightly short on coins. Of course, most decent laundromats and arcades include change machines so that you can swap notes for coins, and an increasing number now accept card payments too – but there are always those that don’t, leading you on a quest to actually gather the coins required to go about your business.

For the parent in this story, the machine in question was an arcade claw machine, and the venue itself was Walmart. And after a grocery shop, it’s not uncommon to want to treat your kid – after all, shopping can be quite overstimulating and not to mention boring for a child, so when they’ve behaved well they deserve it. The kid wanted to use the claw machine, but the parent didn’t have the right change. Unfortunately, Walmart were about to make acquiring this change very difficult.

Read on to find out why.

Walmart no longer ‘opens their drawers to give change’

I took my kid to Walmart today and they wanted to do the arcade claw machines that require you to purchase $1 tokens.

I got three tokens before I realised there was also a section where they will vend a figure for five, tokens but the next smallest bill I had was $5.

I went to the customer service desk, waited in line and when it’s my turn I ask for five ones so I could use their vending machines.

I was informed that Walmart no longer opens their drawers to give change.

Let’s see how this person dealt with the situation.

I go find a $1.40 pack of gum and wait in line at the customer service register again.

When it’s my turn I say, ‘I would like to buy this gum’ and she nodded in agreement.

Then she told me that she didn’t want to say it before, but that’s how they suggest making change – you have to buy something.

I nodded in agreement.

But the employee never predicted what happened next.

Once I had my receipt I said, ‘I would like to return this gum.’

You should have seen the look on this woman’s face! you would have thought I punched a baby and stepped on a kitten all at once based on her reaction.

I go to hand her the $.60 back so she can convert it into a $1 and she REFUSED!

I politely insisted and she caved, but she hated the fact that I left that register with five crisp $1 bills. She yelled at me that I could never do that again as I left.

Honestly, this was a genius plan from this parent.

If Walmart are going to continue with this scheme, they are going to have to deal with consequences like this.

Because for all the rule-followers out there, there are plenty of fans of malicious compliance too.

Let’s see what folks on Reddit made of this.

This person thought that there might be a reason why the employee was so unwilling to provide the change.

And others said that she might not have even been physically able to.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a daughter who moved her mom in after her dad passed, but doesn’t want to fill the role of a spouse.

Meanwhile, this Redditor had a similar story of malicious compliance.

It’s fair enough that Walmart might not want their employees opening the cash draw unless they are dealing directly with a transaction. After all, how often an employee could help themselves to small and relatively unnoticeable amounts of cash – a dollar here and there – no one will ever know, and for both employee and company that money could add up in the long run. So the policy makes sense, even if it is more likely just to force customers to buy something if they want to exchange come cash. After all, Walmart might say, they’re not a bank.

And that would be a solid reason – if they didn’t have machines in the foyer that required coins to operate. If you’re going to have these machines, even if the space is just franchised to another company, you have to accept that folk don’t always have coins on their person. So the logical thing they’re going to do is try to exchange notes for coins at the customer service desk. And sure you can force them to buy something in order to make change – but in doing so you risk losing customers both to the store and to the machines. Or, you risk customers doing something like this.